How to increase website traffic with existing content

Yashu MittalFounder & CEO at CodeCarrot

August 31, 2017 •
35 min read

You worked hard to produce the content that you already have. Now let’s take a look at how to increase website traffic by reusing, repackaging and recycling that existing content to get more website visitors, more links and more leads.

Is your content finding the right eyes?

A common complaint when trying to make a content marketing strategy work, when you’re bootstrapping it in a small organization, is that there just isn’t enough time. You have to, you know, actually run your business. You can’t spend all your time creating content.

It’s true, making a successful content strategy work means making a commitment to consistent content generation. You need to keep people coming back for more, and they aren’t going to do that unless you have new things to offer.

At the same time, you might not be maximizing the value of the content you’ve already generated. A simple question to ask when you’re looking at how to increase website traffic: is your content getting in front of the right eyes? Are you doing the work you need to do to get your content in the hands of the right people?

How to increase website traffic: 3 content hacks

Change up the format.

Bulk it up or break it down.

Do a content upgrade.

When you’re trying to figure out how to increase website traffic, these three content hacks are a great place to start. Let’s look at each strategy in more detail.

Content hack No. 1: Change up the format

One of the simplest ways to squeeze more value out of the content you’ve already created is to change up the format in which it’s presented. Have you ever clicked on a promising link, only to find a video without a transcript or summary? Ever pass up an article because you don’t have time to scroll through it when you’re on the move?

Users prefer different content formats depending on the environment in which they’re browsing, and which device they’re using.

Podcasts are great for a crowded commute where you don’t have room to sit down, or when you’re driving or jogging and have to keep your eyes in front of you. A video might be great if you’re trying to figure out exactly how to do something, whereas you might skip to an article if you’re sitting down to do research.

Whatever content you create, it’s important to remember that it doesn’t have to be wedded to a single format.

It requires relatively little work to take a blog post you’ve already written and send it off to be recorded as a podcast. You can even do it yourself, provided you’re willing to do the homework to make sure it sounds good. The same goes for getting a transcription of your video or audio.

Content hack No. 2: Bulk it up or break it down

This trick is a variation on a theme. Sometimes the content that you have isn’t performing as well as it could be, because it just hasn’t found the right combination of length, format and topic.

Let me put it another way: if you follow a sports team, you’re not always going to want to read a 5,000-word profile about a particular player’s life story, college playing struggles, and eventual success in the pros. It’s a nice thing to look at every once in awhile, but often you just don’t have the time — you only want to know what they’re doing differently that makes them so good this year.

The same goes for content. Longform content is valuable: it shows you know what you’re talking about; you can use it to build your mailing list or drive calls-to-action; and it can position you as a thought leader on the topic.

Instead, consider breaking down your long content into a digestible series of short blog posts.

I could turn this article into a series of 500-word “Content Hack” posts with just a little more fleshing out of each topic.

This idea also works the other way around. If you have a bunch of shorter posts, consider gathering them together into something longer, like an eBook or a whitepaper, for the reasons I went into earlier. Organize the topics into a rough outline, figure out what goes together, and you’re off to the races.

Content hack No. 3: Do a content upgrade

Do you have a piece that performed well but has fallen off recently, or otherwise gotten old? It might be time for a content upgrade.

A content upgrade is all about looking at the data and figuring out what your most effective pieces are.

Any metrics you can pull up are your friends. You want to target two types of pieces: ones that drew a lot of initial attention, and ones that draw continuing interest.

Freshness is an important part of search rankings, so the idea is to take a piece that’s already been successful, add some new features, and then run it again. Give it an edit, add an infographic, support your writing with a bunch of visuals — the list goes on and on. Get creative, republish it, and boost it on social media.

Reuse, repackage and recycle

When you’re looking for ways how to increase website traffic, keep the bottom line with repurposing existing content in mind: reuse, repackage and recycle.

Find innovative ways to reuse old content by switching up the format: change a whitepaper to a podcast series, or your blog posts into infographics.

Repackage by breaking up long content into smaller bite-sized pieces, or combining short things into something bigger.

Recycle by taking your greatest hits and giving them a fresh look.

These tricks help you make the most of what you already have, so you can spend your energy where it matters most — growing your business.

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